1.In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Zoot Suit. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?” We are in Los Angeles in the 1940s where we meet Henry and the gang (Tommy, Joey, and Smiley) and his family and lover. We are in a time when the Zoot Suit is the popular fashion amongst the community and all the male actors within the Chicano Community embrace the style throughout. We are caught in a crime scene of a murder that the police and the jury are convinced that Henry and his gang commit. 2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? The intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken is when Henry and his gang are charged for a murder that don’t seem to gave been committed by them, but just happen to have the profile and “evidence” to prove that they do.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? The events take place in a time when racial tensions are very high between the Chicano community and the White Americans. This is also a time when nationalism is high due to the war and it is assumed that anyone who threatens the norm is seen as unamerican. This is a time also when Mexican Americans are very prone to violence against cops and be convicted of crimes that they usually don’t commit.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrustion.) Will Henry and the gang be set free or will they face the gas chamber? Will there be justice for the Chicano community? Will know who actually committed the crime? 5. Use Henry to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a charcter. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles. Henry wants to live his life as a normal American and serve in the Navy and one day marry and have a family. The obstacle that he faces are “Me against myself” for he is born with an identity that is racially targeted and prevents him from achieving his goals and since he is prone to act irrational in crucial moments, his actions to determine his fate, “Me against Society: for society being defined by the white police officers who arrest his for a crime without direct evidence leading to the crime he didn’t commit. 6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Zoot Suit. There are more than one. The most theatrical moment for me was when the jury found Henry and the gang guilty of the crime. This was considered shocking for me as well for a lot of people who witnessed the whole court case for the judge clearly created his verdict through a racial bias.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Zoot Suit. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”) The Zoot Suits themselves represented the Chicana identity and dignity left of what Henry and the gang had, the jail bars represented the barrier and freedom that was stripped away from Henry and the gang, and the newspapers represented the propaganda machine that brainwashed the rest of Las Angeles into trying to skew them viewing the Chicanas in a negative light during the jury trial.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Zoot Suit. Racism was very loud then and it is very loud today. Love conquers all even when hope seems lost. Justice will be served from the uncanniest ways. Family is the most important thing we have in this world, cherish it till your very last day.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Zoot Suit? Family in this case is found in the brotherhood and sisterhood of the Chicana community of Los Angeles ranging from the immediate gang to their friends and families associated with them. It consists of people who are Chicana by blood as well as people who identify as such. This family is strong and raises from the ashes when hope seems lost and ( I think ) is stronger that a traditional American Family we usually see on TV or the theatre.
We are in Los Angeles in the 1940s where we meet Henry and the gang (Tommy, Joey, and Smiley) and his family and lover. We are in a time when the Zoot Suit is the popular fashion amongst the community and all the male actors within the Chicano Community embrace the style throughout. We are caught in a crime scene of a murder that the police and the jury are convinced that Henry and his gang commit.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken is when Henry and his gang are charged for a murder that don’t seem to gave been committed by them, but just happen to have the profile and “evidence” to prove that they do.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The events take place in a time when racial tensions are very high between the Chicano community and the White Americans. This is also a time when nationalism is high due to the war and it is assumed that anyone who threatens the norm is seen as unamerican. This is a time also when Mexican Americans are very prone to violence against cops and be convicted of crimes that they usually don’t commit.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrustion.)
Will Henry and the gang be set free or will they face the gas chamber? Will there be justice for the Chicano community? Will know who actually committed the crime?
5. Use Henry to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a charcter. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles.
Henry wants to live his life as a normal American and serve in the Navy and one day marry and have a family. The obstacle that he faces are “Me against myself” for he is born with an identity that is racially targeted and prevents him from achieving his goals and since he is prone to act irrational in crucial moments, his actions to determine his fate, “Me against Society: for society being defined by the white police officers who arrest his for a crime without direct evidence leading to the crime he didn’t commit.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Zoot Suit. There are more than one.
The most theatrical moment for me was when the jury found Henry and the gang guilty of the crime. This was considered shocking for me as well for a lot of people who witnessed the whole court case for the judge clearly created his verdict through a racial bias.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Zoot Suit. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
The Zoot Suits themselves represented the Chicana identity and dignity left of what Henry and the gang had, the jail bars represented the barrier and freedom that was stripped away from Henry and the gang, and the newspapers represented the propaganda machine that brainwashed the rest of Las Angeles into trying to skew them viewing the Chicanas in a negative light during the jury trial.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Zoot Suit.
Racism was very loud then and it is very loud today. Love conquers all even when hope seems lost. Justice will be served from the uncanniest ways. Family is the most important thing we have in this world, cherish it till your very last day.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Zoot Suit?
Family in this case is found in the brotherhood and sisterhood of the Chicana community of Los Angeles ranging from the immediate gang to their friends and families associated with them. It consists of people who are Chicana by blood as well as people who identify as such. This family is strong and raises from the ashes when hope seems lost and ( I think ) is stronger that a traditional American Family we usually see on TV or the theatre.